Forbidding or Friendly Grim Reaper Tattoos
Tattoos are a way of expressing yourself by planting ink on your skin either permanently or temporarily. The ink is injected into the layer of your skin to alter the pigment. Now, your tattoo can signify a lot of things. In the case of the Grim Reaper, it is quite simple, it signifies death.
According to the “legend” of the Grim Reaper, the Reaper collects human souls. It comes to meet the dying person and right at the moment of the person’s death, uses a scythe to remove the soul of the person from the body. It then takes the soul to the “final destination” and then moves to its new victim.
Symbolism Behind Grim Reaper Tattoo Designs
The grim reaper is always shown as a cloaked man with a skull for a face and bony hands and he carries a scythe with him, with which he reaps the harvest of souls. One of the most primordial fears of death is symbolized by the grim reaper. He is the very manifestation of the fear of doom. Since medieval times, this symbolism of the grim reaper has been around in the collective human psyche. He is supposed to be the messenger of death who rips the soul of people and transports it to the destination that it is meant for, which is either hell, heaven or a limbo! Death and especially the doubt whether there is life after death remains a mystery that humanity keeps pondering about.
The symbolism of the grim reaper has equivalents in every culture and civilization that arose on Earth. Tribal grim reaper tattoo designs will be different from what symbolizes death in the European mythology. To me at a certain level, as I understand it, the reaper is just doing his job and he is as helpless as we are! His grimness arises from the sorry job he is assigned which includes liberating people from their earthly bondage, while he himself is bonded for eternity!
Ideas For Grim Reaper Tattoo Designs
After that brief foray into the philosophy behind grim reaper tattoo designs and symbolism behind it, let me talk about some popular designs. Here are the ones that caught my attention.
Pensive Grim Reaper Tattoo Designs
The pensive grim reaper with his head down and thoughtful is one of the best tattoo designs that I came across. The reaper contemplating his next move makes for a great tattoo idea. This tattoo design with a message along with it will make for a great tattoo.
Grim Reaper Skull Tattoo Designs
Many people prefer a skull tattoo design with a close up of his grim face with hollow cavities for eyes and a bony hand warning with a finger raised. It can be a very intimidating and scary tattoo to have. Tough guys like sporting such tattoos, to project an aura of toughness! You could have a design portraying a blood thirsty grim reaper with blood on his scythe. That would be scary!
Cartoon Grim Reaper Tattoo Designs
Another option is going for a cartoon grim reaper tattoo design. He could be dressed in a suit instead of a cloak with scythe in hand and called the ‘Trim Reaper’, or he could shown to be relaxing on a beach taking a holiday! Cartoons can be crazy and you can have all sorts of funny ideas.
